The SWORD Project is a software framework developed by the CrossWire Bible Society for working with biblical texts and related reference material. It provides the underlying technology used by several Bible study applications, including BibleTime and Xiphos.
At its centre is a common format for distributing scripture resources. Bible translations, commentaries, dictionaries, lexicons and general books can be installed as separate modules and accessed by compatible software. This allows different applications to share a large collection of material without developing their own text-handling systems.
The SWORD Engine is written in C++ and provides facilities for accessing, searching and displaying these resources. CrossWire also develops JSword, a separate Java implementation used by applications such as Bible Desktop.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Provides a cross-platform C++ library for building Bible study applications.
- Supports Bible translations, commentaries, dictionaries, lexicons, devotional works and general books.
- Uses a common module format that can be shared between compatible applications.
- Parses scripture references to locate books, chapters, verses and passage ranges.
- Provides searching facilities, including regular expression searches.
- Supports multiple Bible versification systems.
- Handles biblical text markup including OSIS, ThML and General Bible Format.
- Provides text filters for converting supported markup into forms suitable for display.
- Supports Strong’s numbers and morphological information for original-language research.
- Handles footnotes, cross-references, headings and other textual annotations.
- Uses ICU for Unicode handling and linguistic facilities such as transliteration.
- Supports repositories offering additional Bible translations and reference works.
- Includes utilities for converting and importing supported text resources.
- Offers an API for developers creating graphical, terminal and other Bible applications.
Website: www.crosswire.org/sword
Support:
Developer: CrossWire Bible Society and contributors
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
Sword is written in Java and C++. Learn Java with our recommended free books and free tutorials. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Bible Software | |
|---|---|
| The SWORD Project | CrossWire Bible Society's free Bible software |
| Ezra Bible App | Modern and user-friendly Bible software |
| BibleTime | Qt based Bible study program |
| Xiphos | Offers a rich environment for reading, study, and research |
| Alkitab Bible Study | Offers rich and user friendly Bible study tools |
| UniqueBible | Cross-platform bible application |
| Bible Desktop | Easy to use study tool |
| Unbound Bible | Multilingual Bible-reader software |
| bibref | Discover internal references in the Bible |
| Bolls Bible | Web-based Bible reader with parallel translations and offline access |
| bbl | Terminal Bible reader with translation comparison and full-text search |
| Selah | Cross-platform Bible study with offline reading, notes and highlighting |
| Lex | Terminal Bible study with interlinear texts and Strong's references |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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